Tag: Los Angeles Rams

For the 1967-68 season, the NFL added the divisional round to the playoffs expanding them after having added the championship round only two years earlier. Since the divisional round of the playoffs was added, there have been 147 teams to have finished the regular season with a winning record and not make the playoffs. This includes the NFL since the 1967-68 season and the 1968-69 and 1969-70 seasons of the AFL.

Timeline and breakdown by season

1967: NFL adds two divisional rounds, four-team playoffs

1968: AFL adds one divisional round, three-team playoffs

1969: AFL adds two divisional rounds, four-team playoffs

1970: NFL-AFL merger, eight-team playoffs

1978: Wildcard round added, 10 team playoffs

1982: Strike shortened season (nine games), special 16 team playoffs

1987: Strike shortened season (15 games)

1990: Second wildcard round added, 12 team playoffs

There have been 10 seasons where at least five teams finished with winning record and missed the playoffs. In contrast, there have only been two seasons where it did not happen. The strike-shortened 1982 season and the 1998 season.

Breakdown by Era and 10+ win teams

The next three graphs show a breakdown of the above cumulative graph into three different eras based on how the playoffs were formatted.

The graph below shows how often a team that finished the season with 10 or more wins missed the playoffs in each NFL season.

Records of teams to not make the playoffs

The table below shows the number of times each the playoffs was missed by a team with a specific winning record. Since the NFL expanded to a 16-game regular season schedule, 70/103 (67.96%) of teams to miss the playoffs with winning records finished at 9-7. In the 14-game era, the most common winning record was 8-6, which happened 11/44 times (25%).

*All four 8-7 teams came during the NFL’s strike-shortened 15-game season in 1987.

Record

Number of times team missed playoffs with that record

11-1-2 (.917)

1

10-3-1 (.769)

1

10-4 (.714)

5

9-4-1 (.692)

3

11-5 (.688)

2

8-4-2 (.667)

1

9-5 (.643)

8

10-6 (.625)

21

8-5-1 (.615)

4

8-6 (.571)

11

7-5-2 (.571)

5

9-7 (.563)

70

7-6-1 (.538)

5

8-7 (.533)*

4

8-7-1 (.531)

6

The best teams to miss the playoffs in this span

Below is a list of the top 13 teams (those with at least a .667 win percentage) who did not make the playoffs in this span. Since 1977, only two teams with this high of a winning percentage have missed the playoffs, the 1985 Broncos and 2008 Patriots.

Team

Year

Record

Baltimore Colts

1967

11-1-2 (.917)

Los Angeles Rams

1968

10-3-1 (.769)

Miami Dolphins

1975

10-4 (.714)

Houston Oilers

1975

10-4 (.714)

St. Louis Cardinals

1976

10-4 (.714)

Cincinnati Bengals

1976

10-4 (.714)

Miami Dolphins

1977

10-4 (.714)

St. Louis Cardinals

1968

9-4-1 (.692)

Detroit Lions

1969

9-4-1 (.692)

Los Angeles Rams

1970

9-4-1 (.692)

Denver Broncos

1985

11-5 (.688)

New England Patriots

2008

11-5 (.688)

Oakland Raiders

1971

8-4-1 (.667)

The total amount of times each franchise has missed the playoffs with a winning record in this span

The Kansas City Chiefs and Washington Redskins have both missed the playoffs with a winning record a league-high nine times. Since 2000, 27/32 (84.37%) of the league has missed the playoffs at least once with a winning record. The only exceptions are the Panthers (who have never done so), the Raiders (1994), Colts (1992), 49ers (1991), Bengals (1986) and the Rams (1971).

Team

# of times missed playoffs with winning record

Last year missed with winning record

Kansas City Chiefs

9

2014: 9-7 (.563%)

Washington Redskins

9

2016: 8-7-1 (.531%)

Denver Broncos

8

2016: 9-7 (.563%)

Los Angeles Chargers

8

2017: 9-7 (.563%)

New England Patriots

8

2008: 11-5 (.688)

Miami Dolphins

7

2005: 9-7 (.563%)

Arizona Cardinals

6

2013: 10-6 (.625%)

Detroit Lions

6

2017: 9-7 (.563%)

New York Giants

6

2012: 9-7 (.563%)

Seattle Seahawks

6

2017: 9-7 (.563%)

Cleveland Browns

5

2007: 10-6 (.625%)

Dallas Cowboys

5

2017: 9-7 (.563%)

Green Bay Packers

5

2000: 9-7 (.563%)

New York Jets

5

2015: 10-6 (.625%)

Pittsburgh Steelers

5

2009: 9-7 (.563%)

Buffalo Bills

4

2014: 9-7 (.563%)

Chicago Bears

4

2012: 10-6 (.625%)

Cincinnati Bengals

4

1986: 10-6 (.625%)

Indianapolis Colts

4

1992: 9-7 (.563%)

Oakland Raiders

4

1994: 9-7 (.563%)

Tennessee Titans*

4

2016: 9-7 (.563%)

Atlanta Falcons

3

2009: 9-7 (.563%)

Los Angeles Rams

3

1971: 8-5-1 (.615)

Minnesota Vikings

3

2005: 9-7 (.563%)

New Orleans Saints

3

2002: 9-7 (.563%)

San Francisco 49ers

3

1991: 10-6 (.625%)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

3

2016: 9-7 (.563%)

Philadelphia Eagles

2

2014: 10-6 (.625%)

Baltimore Ravens

2

2017: 9-7 (.563%)

Houston Texans

2

2014: 9-7 (.563%)

Jacksonville Jaguars

1

2004: 9-7 (.563%)

Carolina Panthers

0

N/A

Teams to make the playoffs with a losing record

In contrast to the 147 teams to have missed the playoffs with a winning record, only four have made the playoffs with a losing one. Two of these teams make the playoffs during the 1982 strike-shortened season, which featured a special 16 team playoff.